ISO 21001 is the international standard developed by the International Organization for Standardization specifying management methods for entities that provide educational products and services. The intent of this standard is to guide educational service providers meet aspiring interested parties, especially student’s requirements and needs. The international standard ISO 21001 is based on ISO 9001 – Requirements for Quality Management Systems, but it also incorporates specific framework of requirements for educational service providing organizations that aim to enhance the level of satisfaction of their students by improving the overall education processes and by ensuring conformity to learners’ requirements. This standard is also applicable to all entities that develop curriculum for the development of knowledge, skills and attitudes by means of different delivery methods.

Today, education is a fundamental need for every individual; and every aspiring interested party is most likely to be concerned with the quality of teaching delivered by the educational service providers. Despite the fact that the outcomes cannot be guaranteed, educational organizations can play a vital role in ensuring that the students receive the desired quality of education.ISO 21001 certification enables such entities to provide educational services in an increasingly effective and efficient manner and enables to offer a more customized experience to all students, particularly to those with special needs and ones requiring distant assistance. Being ISO 21001 certified, such entities can also demonstrate to their interested parties that the entity is committed towards improving the educational system.

By becoming ISO 21001 certified, the organizations are able to: • Make education more accessible (physical or online) • Stimulate brilliance and modernization • Enhance the repute of educational institution • Improve their education system • Provide equal opportunities for all students regardless of their ethnic, cultural or religious environment, gender, physical & mental abilities • Provide personalized training and effective response to all students

HOW DOES ASCENT HELP IN ACQUIRING ISO 21001 CERTIFICATION?

Ascent has hands-on experience in helping educational service providers customizing and optimizing their systems in a manner that hikes the profitability. Ascent has a very systematic approach and has an appetite for already existing good practices, that are used as bonus points. Ascent consultancy service provision has the following steps:

1) Gap analysis to seek areas to implement, and the areas that must remain same as good practices 2) Training to staff for the basic awareness on ISO 21001 requirements 3) Development of ISO 21001 documentation. Some of these documents are developed by Ascent, while some procedural documents are developed by the organizational personnel under Ascent guidance 4) Assistance in implementation of the documented management system 5) Conduct thorough internal audit to give the best impression of the system 6) Assist in framing appropriate corrective actions to close out nonconformities if any 7) Assist in conducting the management reviews 8) Assistance in acquiring the certification. A certification audit is conducted by the Third Party, and on satisfactory findings, the certificates are awarded. The certificates are generally valid for 3 years, and every year, before the expiry of 365 days from the last audit, an annual surveillance audit is conducted. On satisfactory performance, the certificates are revalidated for another year.